Clover is the tale of a psychic girl and a former black ops soldier who embark on a journey together through a Steampunk setting. They both carry heavy burdens of love and loss that bisect in an unexpected way as they outrun armed forces that want them stopped by any means necessary.

Spice & Wolf is the story of an unlikely duo, a merchant and a goddess, who travel across a European-esque land on a personal journey. They fight for survival, and mostly to turn a profit.

What better way to start the new year than with another edition of Anime In-Jokes? As we struggle to take in that extra hour of sleep and some of us fight hangovers, we think back to the holidays that left us feeling like zombies: Christmas and New Year’s.

Finishing off Anime USA con coverage is the Adventures in Voice Acting panel I attended Saturday. Tony Oliver hosted the panel and gave us some tips offered at the full-day workshops held at Bang Zoom! Entertainment.

At Anime USA this year, I had the pleasure of interviewing J. Michael Tatum in person. The last three questions were offered by fans.

Anime USA fell on the weekend of my birthday and so my goal was to treat myself to the best birthday gift ever: courage. Nah, that’s corny – I really just wanted to have lunch with J. Michael Tatum and wear a cosplay I was pretty proud of. It went on to be so much more.

At Anime USA the con was barely an hour old and suddenly fans were thrust into auditions for roles in MECHA Software, a company that specializes in video games based on popular anime. Auditioning at conventions is a new trend started by MECHA Software, LLC., and the representatives did not leave hopefuls without a paddle.

Characters Yuri Shibuya – a 15-year-old Japanese student who is typical in every way until he one day gets sucked into a toilet and comes out in another world. He has a strong sense of justice. Conrad Weller – Yuri’s godfather who lives in this other world. He is half-human, half-demon and he acts as mentor to Yuri. He’s the middle son of Cecile, the former Maoh.

Characters Rasetsu is the lead female character. She is very gifted at dispelling spirits, but can’t fight a particular evil spirit who torments her every year on her birthday. Kuryu is also a psychic, though he doesn’t appear to be as helpful as Rasetsu. He is the business-suit-type and the oldest character in the series at 26. His psychic power manifests as Kotodama, which is the power to control things by using words.

Some anime are quite merciless in killing off favorite characters. But it’s rare to deeply explore themes of death in anime: funerals, grave-sites and even the relevance of death deities. What we do see is absolutely bogging to Western audiences.